| Fish ball | |||||||||||||||
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| Fishball closeup | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 魚蛋 or 魚旦 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鱼蛋 or 鱼旦 | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | fish egg | ||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 魚丸 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鱼丸 | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | fish ball | ||||||||||||||
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Fish balls are a common food in southern China and overseas Chinese communities made from surimi (魚漿, yújiāng). They are also common in Scandinavia, where they are usually made from cod or haddock.
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魚蛋 (literally "fish eggs") are used at street hawker stalls and dai pai dong in Hong Kong. 魚丸 (yú wán) and 鱼圆 (yú yuán) are more commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia.
Fish balls made in Scandinavia are similar to meatballs, only with fish meat instead of pork or beef.
Meatballs made in Asia differ significantly in texture to their European counterparts. Instead of grinding and forming meats, meat used for making meatballs is pounded, which lends a smooth texture to the meatballs. This is also often the case for fillings in steamed dishes. Pounding, unlike grinding, uncoils and stretches previously wound and tangled protein strands in meat.
In Faroe Islands, fish balls are called "knettir" and made with ground fish and fat.
In the Fuzhou area, "Fuzhou fish ball" (福州鱼丸) is made from fish and has minced pork filling within the fish ball.
There are two kinds of fish balls in Hong Kong. One is smaller in size, yellow in colour, made with cheaper meat, and is sold on a bamboo skewer with five to seven fish balls. These fish balls are usually sold at food stalls. There are many stalls which support themselves just by selling this kind of fish ball, similar to hot dog stands in the United States. The fish balls are usually boiled in a spicy curry sauce. It is one of the most popular and representative "street foods" (街頭熟食) of Hong Kong.
The other kind is bigger in size, white in colour, made with more costly fish meat, and has a considerably different texture and taste. This kind of fish ball is usually eaten with noodles at Chiuchow-style noodle restaurants, and at some cha chaan tengs, which also provide beef balls (牛丸) and cuttlefish balls (墨魚丸). Readily available in traditional markets and supermarkets, the fish ball is also a popular ingredient for hot pot.
In Indonesia fish balls is refer as bakso ikan (fish bakso). The most popular bakso are made of beef, however fish bakso is also available, served with tofu and fish otak-otak in clear broth soup as tahu kok, or thinly sliced as additional ingredients in mie goreng, kwetiau goreng, and Cap cai..
Fish balls are cooked in many ways in Peninsular Malaysia & Singapore. Fish balls can be served with soup and noodles like the Chiuchow style or with Yong tau foo. There is also a type called 'Fish Ball Mee Pok'
The most commonly eaten type of fish balls is colloquially known simply as fishballs. It is somewhat flat in shape and most often made from the meat of cuttlefish or pollock and served with a sweet and spicy sauce or with a thick black sweet and sour sauce.
Fish balls in the Philippines are sold by street vendors pushing wooden deep frying carts. The balls are served skewered, offered with a choice of three kinds of dipping sauces: spicy (white/orange colored) - vinegar, water, diced onions and garlic, sweet (brown gravy colored) - corn starch, banana ketchup, sugar and salt, and sweet/sour (amber or deeper orange colored) - the sweet variety with lots of small hot chilis added. Dark sauces are rare as these are soy sauce based and soy sauce is expensive in terms of food cost for street food. A recent trend in the Philippine fishball industry is the introduction of 'ball' varieties: chicken, squid (cuttlefish actually), and kikiam. The last are low cost renditions vaguely resembling the original Chinese delicacy of the same (soundwise) name. Chicken and squid balls as well as kikiam sell at 4 US Cents. Regular fishballs sell at 1 US Cent.
Fiskbullar (fishbuns) in Sweden are usually bought in cans, and served with mashed potatoes or rice, boiled green peas and dill, caviar or seafood sauces.
In Thai cuisine, fish balls are also very popular. They are usually fried or grilled to be eaten as a snack. In Chinese-influenced restaurants, fish balls are cooked in noodle soups and come in many varieties. Fish balls can also be eaten in a curry. Famous is kaeng khiao wan luk chin pla, green curry with fish balls..
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